AFRO-LATIN AND

POPULAR MUSIC
Prepared for DepEd National Training of Trainers for Grade 10 K-12
VizMin Cluster by
ALTHEA MAE B.BONGCAWIL
Edited by:
Dominique Lim Yaez, R.N.

Music of Africa

Historical and Cultural Background of African Music

Singing, dancing, hand clapping, and the beating of

drums are essential to many ceremonies : birth, death,
initiation, marriage and funerals.

Important to religious expression and political events.

It has great influences on global music ( contemporary

American, Latin American, and European styles)

Tshwane Traditional Dancers

The Polyphonic Singing of the Aka Pygmies of Central Africa

Traditional Music of Africa

Apala
Musical

genre from Nigeria in the Yoruba

tribal style to wake up the worshippers
after fasting during the Muslim holy feast
of Ramadan. Instrumentation includes the
rattle(sekere), thumb piano (agidigbo), bell
( agogo) and two or three talking drums.

Traditional Music of Africa

Axe
Popular

musical genre from Salvador, Bahia

and Brazil. It fuses the Afro-Carribean styles
of the marcha, reggae and calypso.

Jit
Hard

and fast Zimbabwean dance music

played on drums with guitar accompaniment.

Traditional Music of Africa

Jive-

Lively and uninhibited variation of jitterbug

Juju
Popular

style from Nigeria that relies on the

traditional Yoruba rhythms.

Kwassa
Shake

Kwassa

your booty dance style begun in Zaire in

the late 80s.

Music of Africa

Marabi
Characterized

by simple chords in varying

vamping patterns and repetitive harmony over an
extended period of time to allow the dances more
time on the dance floor.

Reggae-

Jamaican sound dominated by bass and

guitar chops associated with Rastsafarian religion.

Music of Africa

Salsa-

Afro-Cuban music.

Samba Soca-

Typifies most Brazilian music

Modern Trinidadian and Tobago pop

music combining soul and calypso
music.

Music of Africa

Were-

Muslim music performed often as a

wake-up call for early breakfast and
prayers during Ramadan celebration.

Zouk-

Fast, carnival-like rhythmic music

from the Creole slang word for party
Originating in the Carribean Islands of
Guadalupe and Martinique.

Harry Belafonte Day-O ( Banana Boat )

Vocal Forms of African Music

1.

Maracatu

Surfaced

in the African state of Pernambuco,

combining the strong rhythms of African
percussion instruments with Portugese
melodies. It uses mostly percussion
instruments such as the alfaia, tarol, and
caixa-de-Guerra, gongue, agbe, and
miniero.

Vocal Forms of African Music

2. Blues
Musical

form of the late 19th century that

has had deep roots in African-American
communities ( Deep South of the
United States). Slaves used to sing as
they worked in the cotton and vegetable
fields.

Vocal Forms of African Music

The

form of the blues is characterized by

specific chord progression. The twelvebar blues is the most common form. The
notes of the blues are normally flattened
or gradually bent.

Vocal Forms of African Music

3.

Soul

It

combines elements of African-American

gospel music, rhythm and blues, and
often jazz. The catchy rhythms are
accompanied by handclaps and
extemporaneous body moves which are
among its important features.

Vocal Forms of African Music

Other

characteristics include call and

response between soloist and the chorus,
and an especially tense and powerful
vocal sound.

Musical Instruments of Africa

IDIOPHONES

1. Xylophone: Balafon
2. Rattles( made of shells, tin, animal hoofs,
horn, wood, metal, bells, cocoons, palm
kernels, or tortoise shells)
3. Agogo(bell)- has the highest pitch of any
of the bacteria instruments.

Musical Instruments of Africa

4. Rasps- a hand percussion

instrument whose sound is produced
by scraping a group of notched sticks
with another stick, creating a series of
rattling effects.

Musical Instruments of Africa

5. Drums ( slit or log)

Slit drum- hollow percussion

instrument, although known as a drum, it is
not a true drum.

Long

drum- best known is the West African

djembe, log drum.

Musical Instruments of Africa

6. Atingting Kon (Slit gong)- They were used
to communicate between villages.

Musical Instruments of Africa

B. MEMBRANOPHONES

Examples of these are found in the different

localities:

Entenga

( Ganda)

Dundun

(Yoruba)

Atumpan
Ngoma

(Akan)

(Shona)

Musical Instruments of Africa

B.1 Body Percussion
B.2 Talking Drum
C. LAMELLAPHONE- a set of plucked keys
mounted on a sound board, known by
different names according to the regions such
as mbira, karimba, kisaanj, likembe.

Musical Instruments of Africa

D.

CHORDOPHONES-

D1.

Musical bow- Earth bow, mouth bow and

the resonator-bow are the principle types of
musical bows.

D2.

Harp

D3.

Lute ( konting, khalam, and the nkoni)

D4.

Zither

Musical Instruments of Africa

AEROPHONES-

Flutes in various sizes and

shapes ( Fulani flutes ). Panpipes and
Horns( Kudo horns)

Slit drum

Shekere

Agogo

Djembe

Mbira ( Hand piano or Thumb piano )